Man Gets Life in Macomb Woman’s Stabbing Death

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MOUNT CLEMENS (WWJ/AP) - A man has been sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole for fatally stabbing a grandmother inside her Metro Detroit home.

Joseph Reiner was sentenced Wednesday in Macomb County Circuit Court in the death of 69-year-old JoAnne Eisenhardt, who was stabbed in the neck at her home in Macomb Township. Police say Reiner broke into Eisenhardt’s residence on Fairchild Street in broad daylight on Feb. 23, 2011, kicked in the woman’s front door and attacked.

Eisenhardt, who was found with two knives in her neck, was able to call 911 after the attack and give a description of her assailant. She died the following September.

The 29-year-old Reiner was convicted of first-degree felony murder in September. He has maintained his innocence and says he knows who committed the murder.

During the hearing, the victim’s son Howard Eisenhardt called Reiner a “little coward.” He said knowing Reiner killed his mother “to support a heroin addiction” makes him sick.

Reiner told Judge Peter Maceroni on Wednesday that he’s “not the one who did this.”